


The Things You Cherish

by Lokkish



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 19:13:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11652939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokkish/pseuds/Lokkish
Summary: Mr. Honeynuts has been with Max all his life. If stuffed animals could talk what could they tell you about those that love them the most?





	The Things You Cherish

**Author's Note:**

> Note: I haven't seen S2 Ep8 yet, I just saw all this stuff about Max and Mr.Honeynuts and had to write something about it.  
> 

Nights at Camp Campbell were always too quiet for Max’s taste. Max didn’t live in the City but he didn’t live in the fucking middle of nowhere either, and the soft drone of traffic that would play outside his window until the early hours of the morning always seemed to provide him with good ambient noise. Here in a tent in the middle of the woods didn’t do that. The soundless nights were deafening and made it hard for Max to sleep.

Looking over at his tent mate it was obvious that Neil did not have this problem. The kid always went out like a light the moment his head hit the pillow, that is if his head ever hit the pillow. There were many nights that Max noticed Neil would stay up later working on a problem of some sort or another, Max never cared enough to figure out what it was he was doing half the time, and it was not uncommon for Max to wake up to Neil still working on the same problem five coffee mugs in. 

The most prominent example Max could think of was the day Harrison was trying to impress everyone with his magic and made Max throw up magic odds and ends for the day. Neil never did figure out how Harrison did it and Max was never curious enough to figure it out. The incident already gave him the hibigeebies due the violation to his person, he didn’t need to overanalyze it and think about what kinda creepy shit Harrison did in order to make that particular trick work.

Shivering slightly Max rolled over, facing away from Neil, and reached down between his cot and the tent wall. He searched for a moment before making contact with a small fuzzy arm. Smiling faintly Max slowly pulled Mr. Hunnynuts up into his cot being careful that the bear didn’t snag on anything on the way. Max held the bear away from him as he inspected it for any new wear and tear that would threaten the integrity of the small stuffed animal. Seeing nothing more than the small tear near the bear’s ear, that he will definitely have to fix later, it looked like the bear was no more worse for wear. 

Relieved Max hugged the bear tight. It’s been so long since he’s had Mr. Honeynuts with him, and to hold him once more was like a breath of fresh air. When the Wood Scouts kidnapped him so long ago Max never thought he would see Mr. Honeynuts again. It wasn’t like he was about to tell anyone that he actually owned a ratty old bear, and he definitely didn’t want to give anyone the pleasure of knowing how emotionally attached he was to it. He had a reputation to uphold and he wasn’t going to ruin it over some stupid stuffed animal. So Max had let it be, albeit reluctantly, and just hoped that he would be able to recover Mr. Honeynuts before he had to go back home.

Max sighed as he squeezed the bear tighter. Yeah he was emotionally compromised over a stupid teddy bear, so what? It wasn’t the bear itself that made him so happy it was the emotions embedded within it. It was a symbol of love, comfort, and safety as it was one of the very last gifts that his parents actually gave him that was of sentimental value.

On the day Max got Mr. Honeynuts him and his parents were out shopping, Max doesn’t remember what they went to buy, and Mr. Honeynuts was one of the last bears in a display case near check out. They were waiting in a pretty long line so Max had wandered over to the display and grabbed the bear and started playing with it while his parents stayed and waited.

“Max honey, we’re next come here please, and bring your bear friend.” Max’s mom called to him. Max looked over a bit surprised it wasn’t often that his parents bought him things on the fly.

“Really?” Maxed asked clutching the bear to his chest.

“Yeah, good boys deserve presents, and you’ve been really good today, now hurry up.” Max’s dad said kindly as he smiled down at his son. Max beamed at his parents and ran over giving the bear to his mom to buy. The moment the bear was rung up Max stretched his arms up asking for it back. This made his dad chuckle and give it to him. “There you go little man.”

This was one of the last fond memories Max had of his parents. Before the promotions started and they left the house for longer and longer amounts of time. Before the fights started and the little time his parents did have at home were met with them yelling at each other about how much their work was important to them and how they never supported each other. Before the affairs started resulting in more fights, then the counseling happened resulting in less time home, and then finally they stopped fighting all together and started spending more time with each other and their adult friends. They would go out for dinners and parties leaving Max alone in a giant house for hours on end. Sometimes there would be a babysitter, sometimes there wouldn’t.

It was during these times that Max would be in his room. He didn’t want to get in his parents way while they fought. Once his father pushed him down making him hit his head on a coffee table because he was focused on mom who was threatening to leave. Max cried out but his parents either didn’t notice or they didn’t care. Max thankfully wasn’t bleeding and the bump wasn’t too terrible so overall it was fine, but ever since if he thought an argument was brewing he would go to his room and stay there until they stopped.

Then when things changed and his parents spent more and more time away from home it only made sense to Max that he would stay primarily in his own room. He had many toys that he could play with so he was never bored. If there was a babysitter they were more inclined to get him out of his room, but when there wasn’t Max was more than fine staying there until his parents got back or he got tired and went to bed himself. 

While this made Max sad sometimes when he was younger he still had Mr. Honeynuts and Mr. Honeynuts was the best. He would always listen to Max when he wanted to talk and his parents never seemed to want to listen. Yeah Mr. Honeynuts never had all the answers, but that was hardly a problem. Max just wanted to talk to someone and Mr. Honeynuts was an excellent listener. He never judged Max when he talked about how scared he was when mommy and daddy yelled at each other. How he didn’t like that mommy never seemed happy any more or that when daddy drank that weird brown drink it made him a little crazy. He would also talk about how sad he got sometimes when mommy didn’t sing him to sleep or daddy never read to him like he used to before bed. 

Mr. Honeynuts was also there when Max cried about some of the harder stuff and always gave Max the best hugs. Like when he hit his head on the coffee table, Mr. Honeynuts was there to kiss it better and make Max giggle. Or when there wasn’t a babysitter and Max’s parents were out, he distracted Max from his grumbling stomach and reminded him that breakfast was only a few hours away and if he went to bed now it won't feel so bad.

Max always remembered those times with fondness for the bear, even as he got older and he came to the realization the the bear was just a stuffed bear and Mr. Honeynuts couldn’t actually listen to him, give him advice, or give him kisses for his booboos. Regardless of reality the stuffed bear was there for him during those emotional times and Max held the bear up in great esteem for that. So as the bear started to fade and tear he would always try and keep him together. The bear had his eyes replaced more than once, the arms and legs had a nasty habit of falling off and the left ear always had weak fabric. But Max tried his best to keep the bear together and was always grateful that he could, especially when things seemed to get worse.

Eventually Max’s parents decided that they should remember that they actually had a kid around the time he started elementary school. With that newfound acknowledgement came the understanding that for his parents, anything below an A in school was unacceptable. The lower the grade the harsher the punishment. Once Max came home with a B- and not only did he go to bed hungry he also couldn’t sit down comfortably for a few days. 

His parents didn’t usually hit him, even as a light spanking, but when they did it wasn’t something to be taken lightly. As rare of an occurrence spanking was, being yelled at was hardly a novel concept. Max felt like he got yelled at for every little thing. It started when he forgot to do a chore by the time they wanted it done. Then it escalated, quickly. They yelled when he wasn’t practicing the violin they were making him take lessons for, they yelled when he was practicing the violin during a time they didn’t want him to be. They yelled when he ‘talked back’ to them after he was asked a question, they yelled when he didn’t answer them after they asked a question. They yelled when he breathed too harshly, walked too quietly, stomped to loudly, looking at them, not looking at them, being in the same room as them, not being in the same room as them. 

Basically just existing and not existing altogether. It didn’t matter what Max was doing or how he was doing it because he was doing it wrong. So they yelled and they belittled and they made him feel like a piece of shit, and Max got angry. Who cared if Mom slapped him across the face for actually ‘talking back,’ he tried it her way and he just got shit for it. Who cared if his dad punched him in the face and locked him in the study because Max refused to play one more note on the violin, he didn’t want to learn the violin to begin with. Why should he care if he was turning into a problem child at school, his grades were still great so regardless of how his parent teacher conferences went it’s not like they really had anything to complain about.

Though it all, through the yelling and the bruises, there was Mr. Honeynuts. Always there like a unmoving force ready for Max to hold him close as he refused to cry himself to sleep. Mr. Honeynuts was always there to make Max feel better because it wasn’t always like this. There was a time when things were better. There was a time where his parents actually gave a fuck. There was a time when Max was actually happy. Mr. Honeynuts always helped him fall asleep remembering that and regardless of how anyone else felt Max would always cherish Mr. Honeynuts for doing so. Even if everyone else wanted to throw it in his face.

**Author's Note:**

> I hoped you enjoyed it.


End file.
